Though I find raking to be mostly peacefully therapeutic, at times it is just not as efficient as taking the lawn mower for "a walk" complete with mulching blade and bag... very good head start on composting. :)

I had to have my cat Cricket put down today (I've had her for 13 years). These pictures reminded me of how much she's enjoyed the fall leaves these past few weeks. She was always an indoor cat but when her back legs got so bad she couldn't run anymore, I took her outside with me one day and she loved it so much she spent much of her last days begging to go back out. I'd let her walk around for a few minutes at the time, and she'd walk around the yard sniffing leaves and occasionally laying down randomly in whatever leaf pile looked best. Unfortunately, she was a two-time cancer survivor and had small tumors all over her body, causing organ failure that was making her rapidly go downhill. It is going to take a long time for me to adjust, but seeing Smudge so happy in his leaves makes me smile.

Susan, can you tell us more about the leaf composting bins? I have crazy amounts of leaves each fall, and would love to put them to use, instead of blowing them to the edge of my front lawn for leaf collection.

Yes, please: more on the leaf composting bins. I have a compost bin, but it does not accomodate the season's full contribution of leaves. I'd love to get at least one more pile going. Susan, do tell more please!

Haley,I'm so sorry about Cricket, but I'm glad Smudge made you smile. Thanks for telling us about her. :)

Sue and Nancy,My apologies for not getting back to you sooner. The leaf compost bins I bought are basically just larger versions of the bins I've been using for years - made from tough black plastic with aeration holes all through it that folds around into a circle about three feet high.

Only instead of being about two feet across, these are about four, and a little taller. I've been meaning to show a photo and write about them on my kitchen garden blog for ages. Hopefully I'll get around to it soon. ;)

That's on the large side for regular composting bins, partly because that much material is hard to manage (turning, etc.), but as you know, leaves take up so much space, that you really need a bigger bin.

I ordered mine from Gardener's Supply Company last year, and I guess the reason they were on sale was because they were discontinuing them. Bummer. I bought two but wish I'd bought more. I'm also going to try filling one up with sheep manure-filled bedding hay from the barn. I usually put it straight onto garden beds, but sometimes there's more than I need right away. : )

You can probably make a simple leaf compost bin from wire mesh. Just form it into a circle and fill it with leaves. It won't absorb heat as well as the black, but it should eventually work.

From what I remember about making leaf mold, you don't have to regularly turn the pile like you do with regular compost, but you might want to double check that. ; )

It'll take a while for the leaves to break down into leaf mold, depending of course on the weather, moisture, type of leaves, size/type of your bin, etc. But as I learned during my first composting adventure, everything composts eventually! : )

Thank you for the reference, Susan! I checked out Gardner's supply and saw some green wire bins http://www.gardeners.com/Wire-Bin-Composter/20706,34-646RS,default,cp.html that look like they could do the job for me. The reviews mentioned that the green wire sort of melts into the background, so they will actually work a bit better in my suburban landscape. They probably won't compost as fast, but hey, I've got time.

January 2013 update: I know word verification is a big pain, but it's the only way I can stop the ridiculous number of anonymous spam comments I get every day. I don't want to require commenters to be registered Blogger or Open ID users because I know many of you aren't. Thanks so much for your understanding!

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